The following is an article that I wrote for the 2012-'13 Lindy's Sports "In the Rink" Maple Leafs Annual a ...

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Maybe the most "famous" loss in Toronto Maple Leaf history....

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Oddly, for a franchise
that has a number of Stanley Cups on its resume, (though none in recent times, we all realize)
and has also suffered many painful, memorable losses, a mid-season game in 1963-’64 may
be one of the most famous Maple Leaf games of all. It’s one of those events
that is ‘remembered’ by people who weren’t even around in those days,
because it has been referenced so often in the intervening 50 years.The game has taken on a life of its own.

I had just turned 10 not
long before the Leafs and Bruins met that fateful evening at the Gardens, the
night the “lowly” Bruins skunked the defending Stanley Cup champion Leafs by a
score of 11-0. Those who were around—or who have studied their Leaf “history”—know
that the Leafs were a very strong club in the early ‘60s and were far and away
the best team in the league the year before, needing only 10 games to sweep
through the playoffs and win the Cup. They were that good and at the height of
their greatness as a team. Many feel
they should have won more than the four Cups that they did win in the ‘60s.

The Bruins, for their
part, had not made the playoffs since the end of the 1959 season, and had
fallen on hard times in the early part of the new decade. But on this night, when Canada tuned in—as we
always did at 8:30 “Eastern” time on Saturday night for Hockey Night in Canada
on CBC television, Bill (Foster’s son) Hewitt’s voice welcomed us with the
updated score, “in progress”: sounding
slightly shocked himself, Hewitt announced to Canadians far and wide that the
score was 6-0…for Boston.

I was watching with a
young friend from just down the street in our tiny rural home town in southwestern Ontario, and to say we were shocked was an understatement. In those days, the Leafs usually cleaned up
at home on national TV on a Saturday night.
Those of us who were still kids would have had our Saturday evening
supper, then a bath, to get ready to enjoy watching the blue and white on the
TV screen (though it was only in “black and white” in those days). The Leafs would sometimes fall behind and have
to make a comeback as the game went on, but they were usually good for a win,
allowing me to get my "nickel" (I’d make a bet every Saturday with my oldest
sister’s then boyfriend, who liked to humour me by taking whoever the Leafs
were playing that night. I won a lot of
nickles).

I remember the night and
the score well, but I can’t honestly recall too many specific details. I may well be wrong with regard to what I
think I remember but I seem to recall Wayne Connelly and Johnny Bucyk scoring
for the Bruins. But hey, a lot of guys
scored that night for Boston.

There’s no question it was
a stunning result. Consider for a
moment: the Leafs were the two-time
defending Stanley-Cup champions at the time.
The Bruins were a perennial doormat (this was long before Bobby Orr
arrived). The Leafs were still
loaded. It was a Saturday night. Maple Leaf Gardens. National television. How could this happen? Losing to the Bruins, well, that happened,
even in those days.

But…11-0?

The Bruins went on to
finish last again that season. The Leafs
won the Cup again, for the third season in a row. But interestingly enough, the Bruins, when I
look back at their roster now, actually had a lot of talent.

They had future Hall-of-Famers
Leo Boivin and (an albeit aging) Tom Johnson on defense, along with a future
star in Teddy Green. Eddie Johnston was
just establishing himself in goal. Doug
Mohns was another solid defenseman, a future member of the famous Blackhawk
“Scooter Line” with Stan Mikita and Kenny Wharram (after Mohns converted to being
a forward).

Up front, they had Bucyk,
another future Hall-of-Famer, along with slick Murray Oliver, wingers Andy
Hebenton (a one-time NHL “ironman”) and Dean Prentice, solid offensive threats
all. They also had Jean Guy Gendron, another good two-way winger, and young American-born Tommy Williams, who I have written about
here before. Emerging youngsters Eddie
Westfall, Gary Dornhoefer and Don Awrey played a fair bit that season, as did
future Leaf (and Canuck) center Orland Kurtenbach. One of their best all-around players might
have been the veteran Jerry Toppazzini, who was in his last NHL season. For all that talent, it’s a surprise that the
Bruins struggled year after year. But
the rest of the league was just that much better, I guess.

All this said, the game
was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events.
The Leafs couldn’t have been flatter and the Bruins played their best—at
least their most offensively productive—game of the season.

Those of us from that ‘era’
of NHL hockey still bring up that game when we get the chance to talk about
the ‘old days’.

You know what one of the
most interesting twists about that game is for me (and what isn’t talked about nearly as often)? It is the fact that Don Simmons (right, in action against the Rangers and Camille Henry), who was in goal for the Leafs that
infamous night, was going to be sent down to the minors by GM and Coach Punch
Imlach after that disastrous 11-0 game.
But the goalie that was supposed to replace Simmons (Johnny Bower was
injured at the time; I cannot for the life of me remember who was supposed to
be coming up for the Leafs that day) couldn’t make it to Chicago on time, so
Simmons stayed on and played that Sunday night in Chicago, and shut out the
powerful Black Hawks with Bobby Hull and Mikita by a score of 2-0.

The major turnaround twenty-four hours after the historic loss to the Bruins just reinforced yet again that it’s impossible to predict what’s going to
happen in sports on any given night.

Having said that, as long
as the Maple Leafs play, an 11-0 game—and the circumstances surrounding it, a Stanley
Cup team losing to the last place team, at home, by 11 goals in a shut-out—will surely never happen again.

It's a game you can't forget, that's for sure, ingy56. What I can't remember is when the national radio broadcast started in those days...

In the really old days, the games (at least were I was, in southwestern Ontario) did not come on television until 9pm. By the time this particular game was played, the games came on at 8:30 on TV. But I know the CBC radio also broadcast the games, if I'm not mistaken. But was it at 8 when the game started, or 8:15? Maybe someone knows- and was it different in the Toronto area?

I can't say I'm necessarily ashamed to admit this, since I was still a decade and a half from being born when it happened AND I would probably block something like this from my mind anyway, but I don't know if I've ever heard of this game before now. When I saw "most famous Leaf loss", my mind immediately went to Game 7 against the Kings in Toronto when Gretzky single-handedly sent my Leafs packing. It's all about perspective, I guess:)

You bring up a great point, Michael, that anything can happen in the NHL when it comes to one team beating another. A shortened season means that a presumable favourite like the Capitals can struggle (with the struggles being pronounced in 48 games) and a team like the Leafs (so far) can ride strong goaltending to a 10-7 record thus far. And then there's the old adage that just getting to the playoffs means you have a chance. Just ask the 8th seed Kings from just last season. Here's hoping the Leafs get back on track tonight against the Sabres, although I hate facing a team the game after they fired their coach, especially one who was coaching as long as Lindy Ruff was. It would be interesting to see the win-loss record of all NHL teams combined over the years the game AFTER they fired their coach. Something tells me it's heavily in the win column. Let's hope the Leafs buck the trend tonight. GO Leafs GO!!!!

There's no question, Twisted Sittler, that for younger Leaf fans, the '93 game against the Kings was painfully memorable. It still is for me, too.

That said, in the context of the time, that regular-season game during the 1963-'64 season was absolutely shocking, for all the reasons I tried to highlight above.

But it does lead precisely to what you raised in your post- anything can happen on any given night and to a certain extend, in any given season. No one thought the Habs would win it all in that odd '93 season, and with this season's compacted schedule, who knows what's going to evolve?

Just one of the many things that makes being a fan a lot of fun- most of the time. Thanks for visiting Twisted Sittler, though I guess you figured it would be a story about a very different game!

Ha ha! I certainly did, Michael! But don't get me wrong, I love reading about anything to do with the Leafs, especially when I'm not as educated about a topic as I should be! You've just made my Leaf knowledge a little better. Thanks, Michael! Keep em comin!

Dad's friend got us a pair of tickets. I was a little kid and got real miserable if my team lost (was a Leafs and Hawks fans). So whenever the friend got tickets it was for a Bruins game so I , the spoiled brat, could go home happy. Ha! My Dad teased me about that game 'til the day he died. I held on to that ticket stub for years, go figure.

Of course in spite of the wretched on-goings I insisted on staying until the end. In fact I was just delaying going home and having to put up with my uncle, the Bruins fan. Poor dad.

Thanks Michael, that one goes way back and reminds me of what a great father I had.

Besides the fact that I simply enjoy writing about old-time memories, Bmaximus, one of the reasons I think I do is because I'm always hoping, deep down, that a few people out there who happen to visit VLM will be touched in some way by what I'm writing about, because it triggers their own warm memories. It's can be about their Dad, a friend, or just a treasured experience of some sort. I'm glad this story brought back some of that for you- albeit a painful memory being in attendance at one of the worst losses in our history! Thanks for stopping by, Bmaximus.

Michael - I came to Canada in 1989 so most of what you write about is before my time, however, it still gives me warm feelings to read it. You're a great writer and a great story teller. I think a book about the Leafs written by you would be a must-have. For me game 7 in 93 was not the worst Leafs loss in my lifetime. Mine is also a regular season game. I don't remember the date or the year, but we were up 5-0 on St Louis with about 15 mins left in the 3rd and we lost 6-5. I had to meet some friends that night so I turned off the game at the start of the 3rd. When I came home I was absolutely stunned while watching the highlights.

It's funny that you mention the St. Louis game, Chuck D.. I was watching with one of our sons that night and, as you say, it was just rolling along. Heck, Curtis Joseph was in net. But you could just feel it turning once St. Louise scored a couple of goals. And I think we lost in OT, as I recall. Yikes. What a game.

By the way, thank you for reading the story even though it was not a game that you were "around" for. I appreciate the kind words very much. That's nice to hear.

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Welcome,

Vintage Leaf Memories has evolved since its launch in September of 2009. VLM began as a site almost exclusively about my memories as a Maple Leaf fan growing up in Ontario in the 1950s and into the ‘60s and ‘70s. I was born in 1953, and it was a golden era to grow up a Leaf fan, given their tremendous success under Punch Imlach in the 1960s.

I hope that the site will continue to grow! Thanks to everyone for their feedback.